Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to food preparation and dining structure in general, and to transportable food service equipment in particular.
Within a residence or restaurant, food preparation and storage is facilitated by electric or gas appliances, such as stoves, refrigerators, and electric equipment. There are many occasions, however, where meals must be served in locations remote from installed kitchen facilities: for example, at fairs, carnivals, sporting events, outdoor parties, picnics, parades, expositions and celebrations, construction sites, harvest and planting sites, camping and sight-seeing excursions, etc. Those charged with providing meals at these outdoor locations must either bring previously prepared foods-usually cold, or arrange for food preparation equipment to be temporarily installed. For heavy demand applications full sized kitchens on wheels are available. These may be specialized trucks with kitchen facilities, or towable trailers which include enclosed cookspace. Large dedicated vehicles or trailers, however, can be costly and cumbersome to transport. A full sized trailer may require a heavy truck and specialized driving skills to transport.
What is needed is a food service trailer which is compact enough to be readily towed by a mid-sized automobile, yet which offers basic food preparation and serving facilities.
The food service trailer of this invention has a steel frame which supports a body which encloses a refrigerator freezer, a gas stove or grill, and storage space for a generator, LP gas tanks, and canopy components. The cook top surface and refrigerator are covered during transport and storage by two hinged covers. In use, the covers are rotated 180 degrees about the hinges to form counters for service of up to eight diners. Seating for the diners is provided by retractable benches. Each bench has two legs which are slidably received within fittings on the ends of two horizontal extension members which telescope within tubular cross members mounted beneath the trailer body. In transport, the extension members are retracted, and the legs are elevated and held in place by spring catches. When in position for service, the benches are extracted and positioned, the covers are deployed, and, if desired, the trailer is separated from its towing vehicle and supported on a jack. A canopy has side poles which engage the ground, and bracing poles which extend from the trailer body. In transport, the canopy poles can be stored within a hollow central tube forming a part of the trailer frame.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact food service trailer which is expandable to provide food preparation facilities and seating for multiple diners.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a food service trailer which is of sufficiently low weight to allow it to be towed behind conventional mid-sized automobiles.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a food service trailer which can be converted from a transportable configuration to a service configuration rapidly, and with a minimum of skill and specialized tools.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.